Punjab Education Department favouritism
Favouritism in Punjab School Education Department
Lahore, March 10: The recent posting of 123 female officers
(BS-18) as Senior Headmistress/Deputy District Education Officer (Women) across
the province has exposed alleged favouritism on part of officials of the Punjab
School Education Department. Sources in the department said while many
candidates have been posted far away from their hometowns, a few have been
favoured and posted in their hometowns or the district of their
choice. According to the posting orders, a candidate though having
domicile of Faisalabad district has been posted at Lahore while dozens of other
women officers have been posted outside their districts of domiciles.
Interestingly, the said candidate was posted at Government Girls Model
High School Mughalpura, as senior headmistress though the post was not vacant at
that time. The sources further said the incumbent headmistress was due
to retire on Feb 28, 2010 while orders regarding posting of the new headmistress
were issued on Feb 12, 2010. They further said the post was of BS-17
while the officer posted was of BS-18. "This all shows the candidate has been
favoured", commented another candidate who wished to remain anonymous.
The documentary evidence available also shows a number of
candidates who have domicile of Lahore were posted in other districts of the
province. "The posting of female officers far away from their hometowns
is certainly unfair and demands immediate attention of the authorities
concerned", said an aggrieved candidate. She further said if the
department could 'manage' to post one officer in Lahore despite non-availability
of post why others belonging to the same city were posted away from their
hometowns. The data also shows one of the candidates was posted as Deputy
DEO H/Q office of the DEO (SE) Nankana Sahib against a post meant for male
officers. Meanwhile, it is learnt that one of the candidates on Tuesday
submitted an application in office of the Chief Secretary Punjab against the
officials of the department. The candidate had mentioned her plight
saying despite request for posting within Lahore keeping in view problems of her
ailing husband; she was posted far-away (Nankana Sahib). When contacted,
Secretary Schools Muhammad Aslam Kamboh denied any favouritism saying merit was
strictly observed in all the postings. He said candidates were posted as per
their merit of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). Talking about
posting of a female candidate as Deputy DEO H/Q office of the DEO (SE) Nankana
Sahib, he said the post was not gender specific. Aslam Kamboh said some
candidates were exploiting the matter by saying everybody was interested to
serve only at hometowns, adding whereas the recruitments had been made on
province basis. The candidates were posted out of their hometowns only because
posts were not available within their districts of domicile. The news
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Lahore blast caused schools, huge financial losses
Lahore: A number of private schools in Model Town Society (MTS) remained closed
on Tuesday due to the massive damage to buildings and infrastructure, caused by
Monday's bomb blast Members from these institutions also joined MTS in the
latter's demand to remove the offices of intelligence agencies from the locality
to secure the life and property in the area. The administration of the private
schools said that the offices of intelligence agencies were a source of fear
among young students. They said that the blast caused them financial losses and
halted academic activities, necessitating expensive renovation and
reconstruction. They demanded the government should provide them financial
assistance. Students and their parents also condemned the act of terrorism,
claiming it inflicted mental distress upon them.Schools damaged by the powerful
explosion include the Heritage School System (HSS), the Knowledge School, Ace
institute of Health Sciences, EPIC School and Dar-e-Arqam. These schools have
incurred an estimated loss of over Rs 930,000. Daily times
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Schools, UET closure
Lahore: All government and private schools in the city will remain
closed on Wednesday (today) due to by-election in NA-123, says an announcement
of the City District Government administrator. As a number of schools
are conducting annual examinations at the institutional level, they have been
told to reschedule their Wednesday paper. The Lahore and Kala Shah Kaku
campuses of the University of Engineering and Technology will also remain closed
on Wednesday on account of a local holiday announced by the Punjab government
for by-election. UET's Faisalabad campus and Rachna College of
Engineering and Technology, Gujranwala, will also remain closed.
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GCU Science Conference
Lahore: A five-day 22nd International Asia-Pacific Weed Science
Conference began at the Government College University (GCU) on
Tuesday. Experts from Indonesia, the United States, Bangladesh,
Australia, Sudan, Jordon, Iran and India are participating in the conference
being held on the theme of 'Judicious Weed Management - Road to
Sustainability'. Speaking at the opening session of the conference,
Meritorious Professor of Weed Science Dr Khan Bahadar Marwat said the weed
losses in Pakistan amounted to Rs250 billion annually in major field crops of
maize, wheat and rice. Besides economic losses, he said, invasive weeds were a
major threat to our biodiversity; many of the weeds cause allergies and also
promote insect and disease proliferation. Dr Bahadar said the Canada
thistle, a weed of sugarcane, had developed resistance against specific
herbicides and spread to other crops in Peshawar valley.GCU faculty of science
dean Dr Ikramul Haq said weed scientists were confronted with incalculable
challenges in eradication of weeds injurious to crops. He said the
changing behaviour of weeds was also causing problems for vegetation managers,
which was compelling the human attitude towards sustainable management of
weeds. GCU Professor Emeritus Dr Khalid Hameed Shiekh said all researches
were useless unless implemented. "The research done in the field of
weeds and seeds should be forwarded to framers so that they can draw benefits
out of them," he said. Later, Colorado State University Professor
Emeritus Robert Zindhal gave a lecture on the ethics of weed science.
University of Jordon, Oman, Prof Dr Jamal R Qasem presented his findings
on parasitic flowering plants in Jordon. Around 150 presentations are
scheduled to be held at the conference in the next four days. voucher
scheme: The Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) has launched Phase-VI of the
Education Voucher Scheme (EVS) in Lahore and Kasur to accommodate 16,000 more
students for free education in foundation's private partner schools up to the
secondary level. The EVS Phase-VI will cost Rs67.2 million and give
slum-dwellers and vulnerable children a chance to study in schools of their
choices. The children of 4-17 years of age can benefit from this project by
enrolling themselves in Prep to secondary level classes. PEF-EVS project
officer Shafique Ahmad has said Quality Assurance Tests (QAT) had been held in
180 private schools of Kasur and selected areas of Lahore to accommodate new
students. The schools qualifying for the QAT would be given EVS
partnership status.As many as 13,000 vouchers will be distributed in the
EVS-Phase-VI in Lahore and 3,000 in Kasur. Already, some 12,000 poor
students are studying under this scheme in various Lahore schools costing around
Rs54 million. Dawn
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Seminar at PU
Lahore: Punjab University Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) will organise
one-day seminar on 'Muslim Reformist Political Thought in Central Asia:
Parallels with South Asia' today (Wednesday) at 10:45am in the seminar hall.
Director Area Study (Russia, China & Central Asia) Prof Dr Sarfraz Khan will
be the keynote speaker.
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Punjab workers education
Lahore: Provincial Minister for Labour and Human Resources Muhammad Ashraf Khan
Sohna has said that the government is providing educational facilities to more
than 30,000 worker children in 38 Workers Welfare Schools along with free of
cost books, stationary, uniform and transportation facilities. Talking to a
delegation of workers on Tuesday, the minister said workers should avail
benefits from these facilities. He said education was the key to progress and
prosperity, which could eliminate poverty and illiteracy from the society. He
said special seats for workers children were being reserved in the educational
institutions and scholarships given to the talented students. He said on going
educational campaign would continue to create awareness among the workers
regarding the importance of education would the achievement of its goals. The nation
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